Phoenix Retreat Deira By Dancenter

I saw some bed bugs, and the rooms, including the bathrooms, were very bad. The staff were also unpleasant to deal with, arguing over cash payment for a bath towel because it was dirty. The location felt very bad to me. At night, couples can’t go anywhere near the hotel, and people outside seemed annoying. The area felt like a slum. I wouldn’t recommend it for families or couples. This is the worst hotel I’ve booked in Dubai.

We arrived an hour before check-in, and the front desk immediately asked for extra payment for arriving early instead of greeting us or checking whether a room was ready. When we tried to talk it through, they kept eating right in front of us while speaking. They had no courtesy, and the experience felt disrespectful. Customer service clearly wasn’t a priority. The extra charge for being slightly early felt like a hidden fee. I found the whole experience incredibly disappointing. Save your money and stay somewhere the staff know how to treat guests.

The room was missing towels and other essentials, and the bedsheets looked so old it seemed they might not have been changed in 10 years. The phones didn’t work either, so we had to go down to reception to ask for what we needed. I knew it was cheap and wasn’t expecting anything exceptional, but the place felt poorly maintained and didn’t even smell like a hotel. I’ve stayed in one-star hotels in Abu Dhabi that were better than this three-star hotel. A very bad experience.

During the severe flooding in Deira on Thursday, Nov 18th, it was physically impossible and dangerous for my taxi to reach the hotel. I contacted them right away through Agoda to explain the emergency, but they refused to refund me and were completely inflexible. It felt as though they expected me to risk my safety to check in. The phone number they list is invalid, so I couldn’t reach a person directly. They put money ahead of guest safety. Avoid this hotel if you care about safety and customer service. Purely scammers.